ICE DANCE


and Chock and Bates offer a friendly but fierce rivalry that will likely play out through the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. “We still feel like there is a lot of room for


growth for us,” Bates said. “Tis summer will be our five-year mark since we starting skating together, and in that time I think we’ve accomplished a great deal, winning two World medals, a national title, making the (2014) Olympic team. But with that said, there is a lot yet to be written in our story.” Great as the U.S. tandem was, neither team


could defeat Papadakis and Cizeron, who dazzled judges and fans alike with two mesmerizing pro- grams to earn 194.46 points and their second con- secutive World title, by more than six points. U.S. bronze medalists Madison Hubbell and


Zachary Donohue train alongside the French cou- ple in Montreal, Quebec. “Tey are of course very athletic, but really


they are artists,” Donohue said. “I’ve never seen anybody come into the rink and work harder, en- joy what they do and just bring a pure energy to the ice that is unique to only them.” Hubbell and Donohue hit new highs with


Madison Chock and Evan Bates display their raw emotion in their free dance en route to the bronze medal.


padakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France. “We really worked hard during the offseason


to show progress, and our material this year real- ly suited us,” Alex said. “Going forward into next year, we’re going to continue on the trend we’ve discovered. We’ve really taken our skating to an- other level this year and we’re excited about that.” Te Shibutanis’ 12-year partnership is de-


fined by resilience, work ethic and pure love of the sport. Tey won bronze in their Worlds debut in 2011, when Maia was just 16 and Alex, 19. Te next two seasons, they placed eighth, and then climbed to sixth in 2014 and fifth last season. In the unforgiving world of ice dance, where momentum, style and personality are as important as lifts and steps, no team had ever spent more than two seasons between World podium appearances. “We never thought about there being such a


gap between medals,” Alex said. “It’s always been kind of one foot in front of the next, making steady progress, knowing we want to be the best team we can be and doing everything we can to make it happen.” “A lot of it comes down to believing in your-


self,” Maia said. “Certainly there were challenging moments along the way, but we definitely accom- plished a lot in those five years. We had a lot of great moments and performances that really en- couraged us that we had a lot more to give.” Boston was the high point of a season that


saw the Shibutanis qualify for the Grand Prix Fi- nal, win their first U.S. title after five consecutive silver and bronze medals, and bring home gold from the 2016 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, their first ISU championship ti- tle.


Marina Zoueva, who has coached the siblings in Canton, Michigan, since 2007, never doubted


they would regain the World podium. “Tat was exactly what their [“Fix You”] pro-


gram was about,” Zoueva said. “You fall down, you work, you believe and you will be there again. If you believe and if you have an important goal, you will do it.” For the third time in history, two U.S. ice dance teams stood on the World podium, as Mad- ison Chock and Evan Bates won their second con- secutive World medal, a bronze. Last season, they won silver. It was a satisfying end to a challenging year


for the U.S. silver medalists. After winning Ne- belhorn Trophy in September, feedback from offi- cials prompted them to change their short dance. Troughout the season, they made substantial modifications to their free dance, choreographed by their coach, Igor Shpilband, to Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 2.” In Boston, the couple opened with a polished


short dance set to a sophisticated waltz and fox- trot medley of “More” and “Unchained Melody” marred only by Bates’ small mistake on a twizzle. Tey hit new heights of passion in their free dance, in a powerful performance highlighted by dramat- ic lifts. Teir 185.77 total score is a personal best. “It’s been a long, hard season for us and we’re


so happy that we could do our best free dance at the World Championships at home,” Chock said. “[Rachmaninoff No. 2] builds and escalates


to this really powerful, moving ending, and it took us a long time to build the stamina and to craft the material in a way to get the response from the audience,” Bates said. “Finally the last four or five weeks in training we took the next step with this program and this was our best skate.” Having traded the U.S. titles and World silver medals the last two seasons, the Shibutanis


SKATING 27


their rousing short dance to k.d. lang’s rendition of “Hallelujah” and raw, intense free dance to Daft Punk’s “Adagio for Tron.” Tey finished with a personal best 176.81 points to place sixth, a big improvement over last season’s 10th-place finish. It is the first time three U.S. ice dance teams placed in the top six at the World Championships. “What our coaches in Montreal (Ma-


rie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon) do so well is create programs that suit each team’s style and technical abilities, but also their own personalities,” Hubbell said. “Marie really takes time in the chore- ography process and keeps things fresh throughout the year.” “It’s a culmination of all of the hard work,


all the blood, sweat and tears we’ve put in this sea- son,” Donohue said. “We’ve been pushed harder than ever in our lives by ourselves, our coaches, our teammates. … We’re beginning to see what we are capable of and our resolve to get that U.S. title next year has never been stronger.”


Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue cap an outstanding season with their free dance in Boston. They placed a career-best sixth.


MADDIE MEYER/GETTY IMAGES


MADDIE MEYER/GETTY IMAGES


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